Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti reveals Argentina winger did not take part
in training on Sunday but had instead "came to say goodbye"

Manchester United hope to seal a £60 million British record transfer for Ángel di María within the next 48 hours after the Argentine winger confirmed to Carlo Ancelotti, the Real Madrid coach, that he is leaving the European champions.

Despite efforts by Florentino Pérez, the Real president, to increase Di María’s valuation to £75 million — just £5 million short of the world record fee received by United from Real for Cristiano Ronaldo in June 2009 – United are confident that a deal in the region of £60 million can be struck for the former Benfica player.

With Louis van Gaal, the United manager, determined to make further additions to his squad before the transfer deadline next Monday, the club are expected to pursue moves for the AC Milan midfielder Nigel de Jong and the Ajax defender Daley Blind once Di María has been secured.

Arturo Vidal, the Juventus midfielder, is also a target, but with the Italian champions aiming to resist offers for the Chile international an £8 million move for the former Manchester City midfielder De Jong is regarded by Van Gaal as a contingency plan with the manager acknowledging the need for midfield reinforcements.

Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, remains in talks with Pérez over an agreement for Di María, who could fly into Manchester on Monday should there be a breakthrough in negotiations.

However, after watching his team emerge from the Stadium of Light with a point following an uninspiring 1-1 draw against Sunderland, Van Gaal refused to elaborate on the timescale of Di María arriving to bolster his squad.

“When a transfer has been finished, then we can say,” Van Gaal said. “But until then, we have to wait and see. It is not only Di Maria, maybe it is also Vidal and [Lionel] Messi. You cannot always sign everyone you like, but we are a big club.”

Di María’s exit from Real, as good as confirmed earlier this summer by the £63 million signing of the Colombian midfielder James Rodríguez from Monaco, appears inevitable and imminent, however, following Ancelotti’s admission on Sunday that the 26-year-old had visited Real’s Valdebebas training ground to say farewell to his team-mates.

“He has come and has not practised,” Ancelotti said. “It’s not official yet, but he came to say goodbye. We gave thanks for what he has done for this club and wish him luck for the future. It is not official, but it is solved. I have personally had a good relationship with him and did a fantastic job here. It was his decision to leave because the club did everything possible for him to stay by offering everything to him to stay.”

While Real’s decision to sell Di María has been taken by Pérez, the club president is keen to take advantage of United’s desperation to make a statement of intent in the transfer market by pushing up the player’s price tag.

Although a successful move for Di María would take United’s spending since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement to £196 million, the club’s owners, the Glazer family, continue to bear the brunt of supporter disaffection as a result of the perceived lack of investment in the team since their 2005 takeover.

United have made it clear that they have money to spend – a declaration that has only served to inflate the valuations of targets – and Pérez believes he can still entice rival interest from Paris St-Germain and Manchester City in order to create a bidding war and force United to increase their offer.

PSG, restricted by Uefa’s Financial Fair Play penalties, have withdrawn from the race to sign Di María on a permanent basis but retain an interest in completing a loan move.

However, despite suggestions from the Real camp that City had attempted to sign Di María on loan ahead of a permanent move next summer in order to avoid falling foul of their own FFP penalty, the Premier League champions have instead insisted that they have turned down the chance to bid for the player having focused on signing defensive reinforcements this summer.

United are likely to be active in the final week of the transfer window, however, with Di María leading the arrivals and potentially being signed in time to secure a work permit to make his debut at Burnley on Saturday.

Danny Welbeck has been told he can leave Old Trafford, with Javier Hernández, Anderson, Shinji Kagawa and Tom Cleverley also facing uncertain futures at the club.

Marcos Rojo, who completed a £16 million transfer from Sporting Lisbon last week, may be forced to wait until the weekend for his United debut with the Argentine defender unlikely to receive a work permit in time to face MK Dons in the Capital One Cup second-round tie at Stadium:mk on Tuesday.